Cultivate a Sense of Awe

cultivate-sense-awe

Quick Win

Moments of awe connect us to something bigger than ourselves and may help combat stress.

Try this today

• Take an “awe walk,” appreciating things like the music of leaves rustling in the wind, water trickling over rocks in a creek, the sun rising or setting.
• Look up at the stars and take in the vastness of the universe.
• Listen to your favorite song. Instead of the lyrics, focus on the many layers of instrumentation and effort that went into creating it.

Why

A review paper from 2021 in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that awe may have beneficial effects for mental health. People who feel awe are less impatient and more willing to help others, according to a 2012 report in Psychological Science on three experiments, each involving dozens of people. The authors wrote: “A small dose of awe even gave participants a momentary boost in life satisfaction.”